Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 431 Going to the Countryside in Disguise
Fast forward to the beginning of September.

After many days of psychological struggle, although he was still a little tangled, Jiao Xun still decided to take a look at Subei, mainly because he had long admired Wang Zhong's knowledge and fame.Jiao Xun made up his mind to run away immediately if the situation was wrong.

Estimating that it was almost time to leave, Jiao Xun told his wife, Ruan Shi, not to leak anything, not even to the family servants; if anyone asked, just say that he went to Jiangning and waited for the provincial examination.

On the first day of Jiao Xun's departure, Hong Liangji also set off from Changzhou.He is a master who travels all over the year, and has friends all over the world.His wife asked him where he was going, Hong Liangji said to go to the capital to find Ruan Yuan.

Ruan Yuan is a 26-year-old from Yizheng, Yangzhou.In this year's Chunwei, there are already 28 high school students, No. 3 in the second grade of the palace examination, and a Jinshi background.This person is a well-known scholar and official in the mid-Qing Dynasty. The most famous in history is that he proposed the ban on opium earlier than Lin Zexu.He also wrote a letter to Jiaqing, arguing that the British should be treated with prestige rather than virtue.However, Jiaqing at the time did not take it seriously.

By the way, Jiao Xun's wife's surname is Ruan, and his father-in-law is Ruan Yuan's uncle.

Early in the morning, Jiao Xun walked out of Tongsi Gate with only a bundle on his shoulders, and when he arrived at the Dongguan Wharf, several dental workers surrounded him.

"Sir, are you going to Gaoyou, Baoying, Qingjiangpu? Our boat is big and comfortable."

"Our boats are dedicated to Suzhou, Changzhou, and Nanjing. The master chooses our boats the best."

Jiao Xundao: "Is there a boat to Huai'an Mansion?"

An old man answered loudly: "Yes! Yes! That boat is there, and it will arrive in nine days."

Jiao Xun was about to ask about the boat price when he heard someone laughing behind him: "Hey, isn't this Li Tang's virtuous brother?"

"Litang" is Jiao Xun's word. He turned around and saw that he was an acquaintance. Seeing that the other person was also carrying a burden on his shoulder, he quickly cupped his hands and said, "Cousin Zheng? Are you going out too?"

This person called "Cousin Zheng" is surnamed Jiang Mingfan, and his style name is Ziping. He is also from Yangzhou. Zheng Tang is his nickname. He is 28 years old this year.

Jiang Fan stepped forward, looked behind Jiao Xun, cupped his hands and said, "My dear brother Litang, where are you going? Why didn't you even take a servant with you?"

"Hey, this, my little brother is going to Jiangning." Unexpectedly, Jiao Xun hadn't finished speaking, and the toothman next to him said again: "Guest officer, the boat to Huai'an Mansion will leave in a while, can you keep this seat for you?" stay?"

Jiao Xun's expression became extremely embarrassed, and he thought that the old saying was true, even if he was innocent, he should be killed.

Jiang Fan had a bold personality, blinked and said: "This is really a coincidence, my brother also went to Huai'an Mansion, why not you and I go together?"

"This." While Jiao Xun was hesitating, he saw Jiang Fan approaching him and said in a low voice, "It's as expected, but Mr. Rong Fu"

Jiang Fan's friendship with Wang Zhong was earlier than that of Jiao Xun. He established a friendship with Wang Zhong when he was a teenager. He was a disciple of Yu Xiaoke and Jiang Sheng when he was young.

"Hush!" Jiao Xun looked at the other party's indifferent expression, then nodded slightly.

The two of them negotiated the boat price with Yaren, and they were about to board the boat when someone behind them asked loudly, "Is there anyone going to Huai'an Mansion?"

When he turned his head and looked, it was actually Zhong Huai, with a young man following behind him.Needless to say, this person is also from Yangzhou, and he is still good friends with Jiao Xun.He also knew the young man Jiao Xun, whose name was Huang Chengji. He was intelligent since he was a child, and well-informed. He was a very outstanding figure among the younger generation of scholars in Yangzhou.

Jiang Fan took a look, smiled at Jiao Xun, and then waved to Zhong Huai.In fact, Zhong Huai felt that the back was familiar just now, so he deliberately spoke loudly.After the four of them boarded the boat, they exchanged pleasantries and whispered. Except for Huang Chengji, they all went to Huai'an Mansion after receiving Wang Zhong's letter.And Huang Chengji asked Zhong Huai to call, saying that he was going to pay his respects to the demeanor of celebrities.

Okay, Jiao Xunting broke out in a cold sweat, thinking that Mr. Rong Fu thinks the movement is not loud enough!
In fact, when the Mid-Autumn Festival came, the news of the defeat of the Qing court in Jilin spread to the south of the Yangtze River.Although Qianlong tried his best to block the news, the question is how did such a thing be blocked?
The imperial court was humiliated by Beihai town again and again, losing troops and losing generals, and even the green battalion began to be transferred to the north.At this time, the literati in the south of the Yangtze River began to turn their attention to the north, paying attention to the regime under the banner of Zhu Ming.

In addition, because the salt merchants in Lianghuai and Huaihe Rivers were Shanxi merchants in addition to Huizhou merchants, the news of Mobei also spread to the south along the tea road of Shanxi merchants.For example, people like Jiang Fan and Hong Liangji who like to travel and pay attention to the world, find out the map and take a look, and immediately gasp.

Beihai Town, which they thought was just a small group of thieves, now has jurisdiction over thousands of miles from east to west, and thousands of miles from north to south.Although it is located in a remote and barren place, the territory it governs is already one of the tenth in the world.

Especially Jiang Fan, in addition to his outstanding literary talents, he is also able to win the sword on horseback, which is quite the bold and unrestrained style of the ancients.Thinking that Beihai Town can conquer Luocha in the west, capture Beihai (Lake Baikal), and expand the land for thousands of miles, I can't help but feel a rush, aroused the heart of Weihuo, and I can't wait to find out.

It is not far from Yangzhou to Sheyang Lake. You can take a boat 340 miles north along the canal to Huai'an, and then change boats and transfer to Wusha River.At this time, although the transport period for water ships from various places has passed, the water ships going south from Beitongzhou will stop at Huai'an Prefecture and Yangzhou to sell the goods brought from the north.In addition, the soybeans produced in Huai'an Prefecture are sold in the south of the Yangtze River, which makes the river from Yangzhou to Huai'an an endless stream of boats traveling from south to north.

If there are too many ships, the speed will not increase.The speed of canal shipping in the Qing Dynasty was different due to the upstream and downstream.Because going north is downstream, it is stipulated that the maximum daily voyage should not exceed 58 miles; plus checks at various locks along the way, passengers and cargo, the actual daily voyage is only [-] miles.

The four great talented men of Yangzhou had nothing to do on the boat, and they chatted along the way.Among the four, Jiang Fan was the most knowledgeable and the oldest, so the other three mainly listened to what he had seen and heard from various places.

"For example, when it comes to grain, I have a distinction between regular rice and wasted rice."

"Brother Ziping's 'Zhengmi' is what the government collects according to the grain book?" Jiao Xun, Zhong Huai, and Huang Chengji are three young people who spend their days studying and learning, and don't know much about water transportation. .

"Of course. I have a total of 400 million shi of grain collected each year in the Cao provinces of the dynasty. The rice that is transported to the capital for storage is called Zhengdui rice, and the one that is shipped to Tongzhou for storage is called Gaidui rice. Just like Yangzhou Prefecture, Zhengdui rice is 93600 shi every year. Dimi 46990 shi. Since the reign of the Holy Son of Heaven, he has received [-]% every year to pass the test, but now because of the use of troops in the North, it is said that it will rise to [-]% next year."

Jiang Fan pursed his lips, and said: "In addition to Zhengxiang, there is also Qingwei (same voice)."

Huang Chengji asked curiously: "What's the point?"

"The item of light money also belongs to rice consumption. When it is collected, it will be converted into two cash receipts, and handed over to the Tongji Depot of the warehouse, and some will be handed over to the household department as the expenses for handling water affairs. The proportion of light money in various places depends on the distance of the road. Certainly, the farther the road is, the greater the grain transportation expenses will be, and the heavier the amount of light cash and silver collected from the grain households will be. For example, in Yangzhou, the price of light grain is 2 hu and 6 dou per stone of rice, which is equivalent to one cent and three cents of silver. In Huguang and Zhejiang, one yuan and eight cents are charged per stone."

Jiao Xundao: "Little people in Shengdou already have a hard time earning a living, and it's easy to add money to a good job, alas!"

Jiang Fan shook his head slightly and said: "You think this is gone? There are other additions. For example, reed mat tax, water gift, water foot silver, these are all stipulated by the court, plus the fraud and greed of the yamen servants, all kinds of names are really too much. too much."

The "reed mat tax" he mentioned means that a reed mat is levied for every two stones of rice, and each seat consumes one cent of silver; The cost of a piece of silver ranges from 1.7 to 2 taels, and the amount of silver collected in prefectures and counties is 4 to 5 times higher.

The "grain gift" is specially used for expenses such as long-distance transportation and exploitation along the way. Some places give silver and some give rice; Subsidies for transporting troops to redeem grain and miscellaneous expenses and collecting water for office use.

The other three were silent after hearing this, and even the sailors on the outer deck sighed.Seeing that everyone was depressed, Jiang Fan smiled slightly and said, "Actually, I'm a little curious about how the people in the north collect money and food. I must ask Mr. Rong Fu this time."

At this time, a businessman sitting in a corner of the cabin said with a Shandong accent: "Sir, I have learned a lot from what you said. But from my point of view, leaving aside the wild land, where is the world? Don't they all follow the court's royal law? They're all about the same."

In September of the lunar calendar in 1789, the annual autumn grain purchase in Beihai Town started again.

Just like later generations, Beihai Town Civil Affairs established a grain general station, and set up granary storage warehouses in Beihai Town and Fuldan City.There are sub-stations in each township, which are mainly responsible for the purchase of the lower villages, accompanied by inspectors sent by the civil affairs department to prevent fraud.Except for the grain general station, other private individuals are strictly prohibited from getting involved in the grain business.

We did not implement this system in the newly occupied areas that year, and it will not be implemented until the work of land recovery and redistribution is completed.

In fact, the main reason why Beihai Town did this was that it was troublesome.To collect grain in the newly occupied areas, taxation is inseparable. To collect taxes, there must be grain books, and the original officials must continue to be used.Once they are used by those who want to cause conflicts, they have to send troops to suppress them, and the antagonism becomes more serious.

For example, Hunchun will not collect grain this year, and the Beihai Navy directly posted a notice stating that it welcomes those who are willing to sell grain.

The land reform in Ningguta is still in progress.One of the biggest problems is the division of residents.Unlike Jilin or Shengjing, the urban residents outside the wicker walls in the Qing Dynasty were dominated by Manchus, supplemented by exiles and refugees.Once the problem of Ninggu Pagoda is solved, the problems of other places of exile in the Outer Northeast will also be solved.

Generally speaking, the land form of Ningguta belongs to the coexistence of state-owned land and private land.Among them, the state-owned land of the Manchu Qing accounted for the vast majority, and the private land accounted for about 10%.

The state-owned land is mainly the Eight Banners Guanzhuang, which is divided according to 120 rations (15 acres per mile, a total of 1800 acres);The number of acres of land for the above two items is 413920 acres.

This part is easy to say, directly take back the public ownership, and then allocate 30 mu of each bannerman's share for cultivation. At present, [-]% of the harvest is uniformly collected after the autumn harvest, and more than [-]% of the harvest due to disasters (compared with the yield per mu in other areas of Beihai Town) Comparing) are exempted from agricultural tax, and those who fail to harvest between [-]% and [-]% will be divided into five grades to reduce the tax amount, and those who fail to harvest [-]% will not be exempted.

However, the biggest problem facing Beihai Town is private land.In the early Qing Dynasty, there were not many private lands in the Ningguta area. Until Taining County was abolished in the seventh year of Yongzheng, there were only 32 households in total, and they were all moved to Fengtian.During the Qianlong period, natural disasters frequently occurred in Shandong, Zhili and other provinces. Because the area was close to the northeast, many poor people went into exile outside the customs and entered the Ningguta area to reclaim wasteland together with the banner people.The policy adopted by the Qing government was "returning to the bannermen, and the people's cultivation and food".In the 52nd year of Qianlong, there were more than [-] mu of private land in the Ningguta area.

The current method adopted by the Civil Administration for private land is to buy it, and negotiate the price according to the degree of reclamation of the field, the harvest and grain payment data of the past three years.At present, nearly [-]% of the redemption work has been completed, and most of the time is spent on checking Manchu files and measuring the land.

In early September, a convoy of three horse-drawn carriages arrived at Xingkai Lake No. [-] Village. On the leading carriage was a banner with the words "Beihai Grain Station" written on it.When the convoy arrived at the entrance of the village, Zhu Dagui and two villagers had been waiting for a long time in advance.

"Hey, why are there three cars coming this time? It's always one car." The three of them murmured in their hearts, but they still went to meet the lead car.

When Zhu Dagui walked to the front car and greeted the driver, and then turned to look at the second car, he saw a man sitting behind the driver wearing a badger fur hat beckoning to him.However, after he took two steps forward to see the other person's face clearly, Zhu Dagui rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

"Hehe, Village Chief Zhu, you haven't seen me for two months, so you don't recognize me?"

Zhu Dagui's heart skipped a beat, his knees softened and he almost knelt on the ground, thinking: "God! Why is he here?!"

The man jumped down from the carriage, came over, grabbed Zhu Dagui's hand and said with a smile, "Mr. Zhu, I'm Xiao Zhao from Minzheng, don't you remember?"

"Remember, remember, remember." Zhu Dagui's mouth was trembling, and when he saw the other party's eyes beckoning, he stammered: "Mr. Wang Zhao, you, why are you here? I am the one who caused this trouble. None prepared."

The man said: "What are you preparing for? This is not sent down by the superiors, and follows the people at the grain station around. He always sits in the room, and he is really panicked."

"Oh!" Zhu Dagui said in his heart that this should be regarded as the private visit of micro-service mentioned in the drama, right?

The person opposite him was none other than Zhao Xin.

It is said that it has been two months since the end of the Hunchun Battle. Although Tsarist Russia is also mobilizing troops in Irkutsk, because the communication line is too long, it is definitely useless to spend a year preparing for it.

After Zhao Xin returned to Beihai Town, he stayed with his wife for more than half a month. After that, he either went around the military camp or went to see Zhao Liang every day.After walking around all over the place and getting a general understanding of the situation, this guy decided to go down to the villages to have a look.So he planned to take advantage of the autumn grain purchases and follow the people at the grain station to see the situation in the immigrant village below.

Although Beihai Town has been saying that no tax will be collected for the first five years after the land is distributed, and only [-]% of the tax will be charged after five years, but who knows if it will follow suit?Is there any method of "kicking the tip of the dendrobium" and "floating the dendrobium noodles" in the process of purchasing the grain station?

It's hard to find out if you don't experience it yourself.In addition, Zhao Xin's eyes and ears are now limited to one place in Beihai Town, and his tentacles have not yet penetrated into the immigrant villages everywhere. Instead of waiting for the news from the people below, it is better to have an idea first.

(End of this chapter)